


Henry is Absolutely, Positively, without a Shadow of a Doubt Not Getting What He Wants for Christmas

by swanfireprincessmydear



Series: Swanfire Christmas 2020 [1]
Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas 2020, Christmas Eve, F/M, Swanfire - Freeform, Swanfire Christmas, Swanfire Christmas 2020, Swanfiremas 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:13:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,825
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28185930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swanfireprincessmydear/pseuds/swanfireprincessmydear
Summary: Henry only wants one thing for Christmas this year. For his parents to get back together.
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy/Emma Swan
Series: Swanfire Christmas 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2064771
Kudos: 9





	Henry is Absolutely, Positively, without a Shadow of a Doubt Not Getting What He Wants for Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic for my project: Swanfire Christmas 2020. There is more to come.

For the last two months, Henry’s parents had continuously asked him the age-old question, “What do you want for Christmas?” Every time they would ask this, he would give the same answer – for his parents to get back together. 

His mom Regina would just laugh in response and mutter something about how his mom and dad were too stubborn to ever get back together on their own. Then she would smile and add, “I think I would like that too.” 

His dad had a similar response, but instead he would add that it was, “more complicated than that,” and that Henry needed to, “give it more time.” But more often than not he would end the conversation by talking more to himself than Henry and sigh and say, “it just wasn’t meant to be.” 

His mom Emma had the harshest response. At first, she would get annoyed and tell him that it wasn’t an appropriate answer to the question. Then she would argue that her and Neal were, “better just as friends”, that there was too much history, pain, and anguish that meant it would never work out again romantically. Henry disagreed quite strongly with this idea; he knew his parents would make a great match. They just needed a little push in the right direction. 

It had all been planned out perfectly. On Christmas Eve, Henry would stay the night at his dad’s apartment. Emma would come around on Christmas morning and watch Henry unwrap his gifts there, then the three of them would go to Regina’s for lunch along with the Charmings. This schedule did not go according to plan. 

On the 23rd of December, Emma arrived back to her flat after a long day at work at the Sheriff’s office. Ignoring the signs that anything was out of the ordinary and too tired to really care, she practically fell into bed and went straight to asleep. It wasn’t until the morning, when she got out of bed and her feet were damp that she knew anything was wrong. The pipes in her flat had burst. 

After calling the plumber and grabbing some clothes, she made her way over to Neal’s apartment. She would have to stay there on Christmas Eve with Henry. 

A knock on his apartment door far too early in the morning woke Neal Cassidy from his sleep, he was definitely not a morning person and such a rude awakening did not put him in a good mood. When he opened the front door, he did not expect to see his ex-girlfriend standing there, a little damp and quite smelly.   
Before he could say anything at all, Emma spoke up, “The pipes in my flat have burst so if I could please use your shower and stay with you for a couple of days that would be much appreciated.” 

Despite composing a straight face, he could tell Emma was furious. It was not the best way to start Christmas Eve.   
“Yeah, of course. You’re always welcome here. Towels are in the cupboard upstairs. The main shower is to your right or you can use the one in my ensuite if you like, it’s more set up,” Neal moved to open the door wider and let her in.   
“Thank you,” Emma smiled through gritted teeth as the uncomfortableness of her damp state was starting to set in. A little hesitantly, she threw the little belongings she had brought onto the couch and made her way upstairs, choosing the guest shower. 

Henry arrived not long after Emma did, a quiet smirk resting on his face. “Hey dad, Happy Christmas Eve,” Neal’s son bounced through the lounge and into the kitchen to greet his dad in a hug. Neal noted that he was a little too happy, but seeing as it was Christmas Eve, he didn’t think much of it.   
“Hey kid, Merry Christmas Eve to you too,” Neal ruffled his son’s hair playfully as the two embraced.   
During this moment, Emma emerged from the top of the stairs, still drying her hair in a towel, but now much cleaner and fully dressed.   
“Hey Henry, the pipes in my flat burst so I have to stay here with you tonight. Is that alright with you?” It was a silly question; it was all the kid had been going on about for the last couple of months.   
“Of course!” A giant grin had made its way onto Henry’s face as he was practically jumping with joy, “Does that mean we can play board games together?” 

Neither Neal nor Emma really understood Henry’s love for board games, but it turned out to be rather fun. Henry kicked their asses at trivial pursuit, Emma won almost every round of Cluedo and Neal had all the luck in Monopoly. 

There was shift in the mood at about 10pm when Henry said he was going to the bathroom and took awhile to return. Both Emma and Neal sat in awkward silence, unable to even make small talk with one another. Henry returned downstairs fully packed, “So I’ve decided I want to stay at Regina’s tonight instead. She’s here now to pick me up, see you tomorrow.”   
“What? Hang on a minute-,” Emma didn’t even get a chance to finish her sentence, her son was already out the door. 

The rest of the night continued in a shocked silence, neither of them not really knowing what to say to one another. Eventually, they bid each other a goodnight and disappeared into their respective rooms. Neal lay awake in the dark, thinking of how quickly the day had unfolded. The sound of his bedroom door creaking open made him sit up and look towards the hall light where Emma was standing in the doorway. 

“Can I come in please? It’s cold,” Neal blinked at Emma through the darkness, it wasn’t too cold to sleep alone.   
“Yeah… sure,” a little flustered, Neal squeaked out a reply and patted the spot next to him as Emma moved across the room and slipped under the covers.   
The pair stayed as far away from each other as possible, laying in absolute silence as the night seemed to tick on forever. 

“You know,” Emma spoke despite not sounding sure of her own voice, “We could just sleep together?” Neal was taken aback by this proposal, but that shock quickly turned to anguish.  
“I thought that’s what we were doing,” it was a joke, but it sounded more angry than humorous and Emma wasn’t sure how to take it, so she pressed on.   
“That’s not what I-,”   
“I know what you meant,” Neal turned his back to Emma, pulling the covers more his way as he did so, a bitter tone to his voice, “No. Because if I do sleep with you again I want it to be because I love you and you love me back, not because it’s Christmas Eve and we’re bored and a bit lonely.” 

Emma took in a sharp breath; it was naive to think Neal would let her take the easy way out. She had dreaded this moment. She was much better at ignoring her true feelings.   
Still desperate to avoid getting too emotional, she tried to deter further, “You already know how I feel about you. Why are you making this so difficult?”   
“Am I? Sorry if I thought you’d made it pretty clear you wanted nothing more than a friendship from me. I’ve been back almost a year, we’ve both been single for months and you’ve never made any indication until now that you wanted anything different. So no, I’m not just going to _sleep with you_ because you’ve got nothing else to do. I love you, I always have,” Neal knew she didn’t have to love him back in the same way he loved her, but he would have liked for her to be honest with him. 

Emma didn’t reply straight away, the two just lay there, listening to their own breathing for a moment. “Alright, fine,” Emma rolled over and pulled Neal towards her so that they were facing one another, “I’m scared. I’ve already lost you three times. I don’t think I can survive a fourth, especially if we’re together.”   
It didn’t seem as though she had even finished speaking when she kissed him, perhaps she was trying to catch him off guard, but he relaxed into it anyway. There was a coil of disappointment in his stomach, he had imagined their second first kiss to go much differently than that, that at least they would lay everything on the table first, but this was good too. Meeting somewhere in the middle. They could work out all the knots and ties later. 

“You were right to say no,” Emma pressed her lips onto his forehead, a romantic gesture the two often shared in their other life together. Neal gave her a confused scowl in return, not quite sure what she was trying to say. She only grinned in response to this before continuing, “We shouldn’t sleep together just because it’s Christmas Eve and we’re bored and a bit lonely.” Neal suddenly found himself pinned down with Emma straddling him, still unable to find words in his throat. Leaning back down to keep her face close to his, Emma sealed the deal, “So, it’s a good thing I love you too.” 

Henry awaited anxiously for his parents to arrive the next morning, hoping that his plan of leaving them alone had worked. Regina’s help to burst his mother’s pipes with a little bit of magic hadn’t hurt their chances either. 

The Charmings arrived at Regina’s first, only then followed by Emma and Neal who had matching smiles plastered across their face. Upon their arrival, Henry turned to look at his mom Regina who nodded at him with an approving grin. He was sure their plan had worked. 

Once lunch was served and everyone began to move from the sitting room into the dining room, Henry felt two large hands on his shoulders gently pull him aside. “Hey kid, I need to talk to you,” Neal held Henry back as the others left the room, making sure everyone else was out of earshot. The teenager looked to his father eagerly, although he was sure he already knew what he was going to say. “So, your mom and I have talked and we’re going to give being together a really good go and see what happens. It might not work out so no promises, but I have a good feeling about it,” Neal rubbed his son’s arm affectionately before Henry leapt into his arms, too excited to do anything else.   
Pulling away from the hug, Henry laughed, “That’s great dad, but I don’t think you and Regina are going to last very long.” Neal laughed too and pushed him towards the doorway. 

Henry absolutely, positively, without a shadow of a doubt got exactly what he wanted for Christmas.


End file.
